December 10, 2016

Creating meaning in a world which does not progress….

There is no such thing as Progress. I remember being stunned when I read those words many years ago. But I have come to find that they are meaningful. Looking at what is going on in the US, the U.K.and the world today it is easy to see similarities historically with ancient civilisations like Rome or Egypt in terms of war, propaganda, leadership struggles and how Society works. Indeed the current situation has also been compared with more recent patterns in the 1930s. There has been no progress and nor can there be while individuals themselves don’t learn from each other or the past. This is because each of us can really only believe, and learn from, our own personal experience. We only understand when we are ready to understand. We actually don’t get it till we are mature enough to get it. I have noticed this in my own life – maturing and understanding has been a long process, difficult at times, and still continues. Over my life I have seen things be rediscovered time and time again, when they were always there to see in history and literature – when people were ready to understand, but not before. So, for me there is no progress in Society, but there can be in me, and in other individuals, if we stay awake, open, minded, evidence based and prepared to challenge lies and illusion. I am not saying anything new, it has all been shared before by the Philosophers -like the ancient Greeks and Buddha in India. Maybe it helps to realise that we can not change others, only ourselves, and that this is a journey worth travelling along in this School called Life. Perhaps the most useful thing I have learned so far in this School is that instead of asking impossible questions about what is the meaning of life I must answer the question myself, and create meaning in my life together with the other people, animals and systems I find myself with here and now.